Vocaloid is a software voice synthesizer developed by Yamaha. Since the release of Vocaloid2 and the character vocal set (voice set) “Hatsune Miku” 【初音ミク】, Vocaloid has become immensely popular in Japan. From manga doujins to video games to plastic figurines, Miku and her friends have spread far and wide. As an audio engineer and human-computer-interaction junky, I’ve had a thing for Miku and Vocaloid since I first heard about them both in 2008. Since then, I’ve come to own the original Hatsune Miku voice pack, and two weeks ago I bought the new Hatsune Miku: Append set of six voice packs. Since coming to Japan, I’ve seen tons of Miku and Vocaloid merchandise and have catalogued the notable occurances of the product through pictures. I chose to do the photo essay assignment for my Japanese Culture class on Vocaloid because I love the product and its culture and was amazed at how much stuff I found just by walking around in Japan. It’s also the only thing I could find from my pictures that directly related to my general topic of “technology and culture”. Vocaloid, a piece of software, has become a major pop-culture icon in Japan. The pictures that follow are in the order that I took them. They were all take on my phone and not my camera as I found them during random walks and explorations and wasn’t out to take pictures at the time.
My first entry is a drawing by someone who appears to go by “も。” – an ink and colored pencil sketch of Hatsune Miku by a member of the AIC hanging on the fourth floor of Nexus21
Vocaloid doujins in a manga shop (Animate). The two at the bottom left are 4-koma’s about “Hachune Miku”, Hatsune Miku’s stand-in `chibi` character. The ones at the top are unofficial mangas about Hatsune Miku as a singer.
Sonika, Hiyama Kiyoteru, Kaai Yuki, Megpoid and Gackpoid, all sitting next to a copy of AutoTune at a music store. Three different developers are represented here: Zero-G, AH-Software, and INTERNET. Yamaha makes the underlying software and other companies, most notably Crypton Future Media (creators of Miku) create the voice packs.
The reason I went to said music store was to pick up the voice set on the left, “Append”. Pictured are Miki and the original Hatsune Miku. Also seen is FL Studio, which is a sort of honorary member of the Vocaloid ‘world’ – FL-Studio is represented by “FL-chan”.
Hatsune Miku Nendoroid figure. More interesting is the bottom shelf which has two Kagamine Rin figures and another Hatsune Miku figure. In the background is the box for the voice synthesizer.
Black★Rock Shooter is a character from a Vocaloid music video that will appear in an anime OVA in the fall.
4′-tall cardboard cutout of Miku in front of the Teito Game Station in Hondori, inside of which was…
… a Miku crane game. There were two other similar machines, but no sign of the rhythm game Project Diva: Arcade. I’m not entirely sure what was in this thing, but I believe it was a small figure in a ball.
Project Diva 2nd advertisement board at a game store in downtown Hiroshima City. The game, the sequel to Project Diva and in the same vane a rhythm game for the Sony PlayStation Portable, is set for release on July 29th.
As if the ad at the game store wasn’t enough, this massive booth at an electronics store in Shoko Center was nestled in a corner of a rather bleak game section. It was the most prominent display on that side of the store.
And I’ll end with more PVC figures and phone charms. Except for the two Strike Witches figures, this entire cabinet was filled with Vocaloid merchandise.
Bonus picture: Vocaloid on my laptop, because I own the software.
So that’s that, a short album of Vocaloid pictures from my time so far in Japan. From college art projects to video games, crane games and PVC figures, Vocaloid products are really popular in Japan. One thing I don’t have a picture of is the cashier at the manga store in the SkyMall in Hondori, who was wearing a Hatsune Miku pin when I went to buy the Re:Mikus CD (I had a different cashier also wearing a Miku pin when I bought the Angel Beats! CDs this past weekend).
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